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Tuesday, 31 March 2015

On Saturday March 21st, during Dyreverndagen (the Norwegian Animal Protection Day) at DogA in Oslo, the Norwegian Minding Animals Award 2015 was presented. Being the Chair of Minding Animals Norway, I was presenting the award on behalf of the jury. The prize, which consisted of an artwork by Ksenia Aksenova and a diploma, was awarded to Bergljot Børresen, a Norwegian veterinarian who has written extensively about human-animal relations, particularly on domestic animals, and challenged anthropocentric notions. The prize was received by Marianne Melgaard on Børresen´s behalf.

On Saturday March 21st I attended Dyreverndagen (the Norwegian Animal Protection Day) at DogA in Oslo. The event was organised by a working group sorting under Minding Animals Norway, consisting of some 15 volunteers. Some 170 people attended the event, which consisted of a seminar at day-time and a party/concert with award ceremonies in the evening.

I was on stage at two occasions - first at the end of the seminar, when I surprised project leader Hilde Valbjørn Hagelin with a bouquet of flowers. And then in the evening, I presented the winner of the 2015 Minding Animals award.

On Saturday March 21st, at Dyreverndagen (the Norwegian Animal Protection Day) at DogA in Oslo, I attended the Minding Animals stand for some time in the breaks. We sold books, had brochures on display, and explained participants what we are doing as an organisation.

Monday, 30 March 2015

After hours on March 20th I finished a research application draft aimed at the Norwegian FRIPRO (independent projects) grant scheme. The application draft (10 pp.), or rather the project, is titled "Umwelt Theory For Our Time". I finished a draft by this date in an attempt to have it selected as one of three application drafts that are to be reviewed at a PRE-FRIPRO workshop at University of Stavanger in mid-April.

Friday, 20 March 2015

I have agreed to be part of a prospective research network, with the name "COST GroupHouseNet", which will if funded conduct networking activities involving knowledge dissemination etc. in the study of animal welfare for pigs and hens. The application is initiated by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and involves researchers representing 17 institutions in 15 European countries.

Doctoral degree from University of Tartu (Department of Semiotics), Estonia. Title of PhD thesis (defended December 15th 2011): "Umwelt Transition and Uexküllian Phenomenology. An Ecosemiotic Analysis of Norwegian Wolf Management"

Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics (published by Springer Science+Business Media) July 1st 2013-June 30th 2018. Member of the editorial board 2010-

Member of the editorial advisory board of the journal Politics and animals

Chair of local organising committee of 2015 conference by "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis", main organizer of the Tartu workshops on the semiotics/phenomenology of perception (Feb. 2009), co-organizer of the international conference "Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations" (April 2011), co-founder of the annual Norwegian animal ethics conference (2012-)

Project leader for the Norwegian research group of the research project "Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis" (EEA Norway Grants EMP 151, 2013-2016)

A main researcher in Timo Maran´s research project (2009-2013) "Dynamical Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations" (ETF/ESF 7790)

Guest-editor with Kati Lindström of special issue of Biosemiotics (3(3)), 'Semiotics of Perception' (2010), and with Riin Magnus and Nelly Mäekivi of special issue of Hortus Semioticus (no. 6), 'Semiotics of nature' (2010)

Editor with Timo Maran, Kati Lindström and Riin Magnus of "Semiotics in the Wild: Essays in Honour of Kalevi Kull on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday" (Tartu University Press 2012)

Editor with Kadri Tüür of "The Semiotics of Animal Representations" (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2014), and editor with Guri Larsen and Ragnhild Sollund of the Norwegian HAS anthology "Hvem er villest i landet her?" (Oslo: Spartacus 2013)

Chair of Minding Animals Norway (2011-2015), Minding Animals International Europe and Africa national groups convenor 2013-, Minding Animals International Tool Kit Editor 2015-, secretary of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (2011-2015), member of the Governing Board of the International Society of Code Biology (ISCB) (2012-), member of the board of University of Stavanger 2012-2013 and 2nd deputy member 2013-2015, member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS) representing Norway (2014-2019) and the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS) (2011-2019)